Developer U.S. Equities Realty LLC has secured a $25-million construction loan for MetraMarket, a long-delayed restaurant and retail emporium within the Ogilvie Transportation Center.
In a sign of the times, with the credit crunch pushing U.S. lenders to the sidelines, German bank Eurohypo A.G. stepped up to provide funding to Chicago-based U.S. Equities for the project’s first phase, about 60,000 square feet.
Construction could begin within the next few weeks and the stores could open next summer, U.S. Equities said in a release.
MetraMarket is to consist of 100,000 square feet of rentable space underneath a stretch of tracks, and just north of the transportation center in an area bounded by Washington, Lake, Canal and Clinton streets. The street-level shops and stores were conceived as a retail gateway linking the Central and West Loop districts.
The project has been slow to get off the ground. Originally, a much larger version of the $42-million project, with about 36,000 square feet of restaurants and 90,000 square feet of retail space, was slated to open in 2002.
The three tenants that have signed are a 15,000-square-foot French Market selling baked goods, fresh produce, meat, fish and other items; a 14,000-square-foot CVS drugstore, and a 2,900-square-foot coffee bar called Caffe RoM.
The city of Chicago in 2006 approved tax increment financing totaling $12 million. About $8 million of TIF money will go toward the project’s first phase, which is about 50% leased, says a project spokeswoman.
The first phase of the project, which extends the length of two city blocks, will cover the area south of Randolph Street, while a second phase of more than 30,000 square feet is to stretch north of Randolph, between Clinton and Canal streets, the spokeswoman says.
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